we drove the dogs down to hugh taylor birch park (or whatever) today. only buddy could be trusted off his leash, but the other two had a good time anyway.

they even enjoy the ride there!

buddy is so endearingly small.

saw this dog for the second day in a row! i think his name is frank. yesterday we saw him on a beach back street as we were jogging with sebastian. he's really cute! buddy tried to pick a fight with him. i wouldn't tell buddy this, but my money would be on frank.

it takes an amazing amount of concentration for gretchey to not just attack chris's hand for the treat. you have to appreciate it.

i love buddy.

esp. when he makes faces like this.

it was a very pretty day.

very pretty.

i love the mangrove seedlings.

one thing - does it occur STRANGE to anyone else that there was a, um, drain in this water? we stood there for a few minutes, trying to figure it out. we didn't.

it started to rain, so we ducked under some trees and i was able to snap this picture. which i like.

so yeah, gorgeous day. and a good ending to this four-day weekend, which has gone by way too quickly.

A small boy lived by the ocean. He loved the creatures of the sea, especially the starfish, and he spent much of his time exploring the seashore.

One day the boy learned there would be a minus tide that would leave the starfish stranded on the sand.

When the tide went out, he went down to the beach, began picking up the stranded starfish, and tossing them back into the ocean.

An elderly man who lived next door came down to the beach to see what the boy was doing. Seeing the man's quizzical expression, the boy paused as he approached. "I'm saving the starfish!" the boy proudly declared.

When the neighbor saw all of the stranded starfish he shook his head and said: "I'm sorry to disappoint you, young man, but if you look down the beach, there are stranded starfish as far as the eye can see. And if you look up the beach the other way, it's the same. One little boy like you isn't going to make much of a difference."

The boy thought about this for a moment. Then he reached his small hand down to the sand, picked up another starfish, tossed it out into the ocean, and said: "Well, I sure made a difference for that one!"